TRENTON, New Jersey — Two chemicals considered harmful to babies remain in Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo sold in the U.S. and some other countries, even though the company already makes versions without them, according to an international coalition of health and environmental groups.

Now the coalition is urging consumers to boycott Johnson & Johnson baby products until the company agrees to remove the chemicals from its baby products sold around the world.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has unsuccessfully been urging the world's largest health care company for 2 1/2 years to remove the trace amounts of potentially cancer-causing chemicals — dioxane and a substance called quaternium-15 that releases formaldehyde — from Johnson's Baby Shampoo, one of its signature products.

Johnson & Johnson has said it is reducing or gradually phasing out the chemicals.

"Johnson & Johnson clearly can make safer baby shampoo in all the markets around the world, but it's not doing it," said Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

"Clearly there is no need for Johnson & Johnson to expose babies to a known carcinogen when the company is already making safer alternatives. All babies deserve safer products," Archer added in an online press release.

Toxic tub?
The campaign's new report, "Baby's Tub is Still Toxic," was released Tuesday, when the group also launched the boycott via its website.

The updated report was based on an examination of label ingredients for Johnson & Johnson baby products in 13 countries.

On Monday, the campaign sent Johnson & Johnson a letter, signed by about 25 environmental, medical and other groups representing about 3.5 million people in the U.S. and other countries.

It urges the company to publicly commit by Nov. 15 to removing the chemicals from all personal care products worldwide.

In response, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are safe and approved by regulators in the U.S. and other countries, but that it is gradually phasing them out of its baby products.

It said it is also reformulating baby products to reduce the level of dioxane below detectable levels. But it did not say whether it would respond to or meet the campaign's full demands.

In the press release, Archer said the campaigners were "glad to see that the Johnson & Johnson is taking this seriously."

"This commitment is a big step in the right direction. We look forward to the day when we can tell consumers the company's entire product line is free of carcinogens and other chemicals of concern," she added.

The letter, addressed to CEO William Weldon, was signed by groups including the Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Green America.

According to the report, one of the suspect chemicals, quaternium-15, is a preservative that kills bacteria by releasing formaldehyde.

Irritant
Formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid, was declared a known human carcinogen this past June by the U.S. National Toxicology Program. Formaldehyde also is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.

Quaternium-15 is still an ingredient on Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo sold in the U.S., Canada, China, Indonesia and Australia, but the campaign's research this summer found it's not in the same product sold in at least eight other countries, from the U.K. and Denmark to Japan and South Africa.

The second chemical, 1,4-dioxane, is considered a likely carcinogen. It's a byproduct of a process for making chemicals more soluble and gentler on the skin.